Measuring Learning

“In a school without grades, tests, or assessments, how do we know what they’re learning?”
-Prospective Parent during an Information Session, 1/9/2022

At The Wilder School: An Acton Academy, the lack of report cards can be confusing for prospective families. How will we know that children are learning, and that they have a thorough understanding of the material they learned?

Why are grades necessary in traditional school?

In traditional school, the curriculum is presented uniformly to all children, and regardless of individual proficiency, the whole class moves forward to new material. This cycle repeats year after year. This system is not responsive to the child - it does not slow when a child needs additional practice, nor does it speed up when a child completes it with ease — so regular testing and grade assignments are required to document the level of learning a child attains.

Why does The Wilder School not test/grade children?

TWS requires mastery of each core skills (math, reading, and writing) before moving from one concept to the other. Mastery is prove through a series of work products and assignments that are completed 100% correctly. Requiring mastery of core skills is a higher level of accountability than traditional schools, so we can confidently state that our learners are working with greater proficiency than their traditional school counterparts.

How do parents know what their child is working on in the studio?

Parents and children are encouraged to talk weekly about what is going on in the studio. To facilitate this discussion, here are some of the questions we encourage parents to ask.

• What is challenging you the most this week? What resources are you using to overcome this challenge?

• Can you show me your goals? I notice that you have goals listed for writing and reading… where are your math goals? What were your goals for last week? Did you achieve your goals?

• What is this session’s quest (hands-on project)? What are you excited to work on?

Learners and families are also encouraged to walk through Journey Tracker, our program for studio transparency and tracking, or to explore the e-Learning programs for a wholistic picture of what their child is working on in the studio.